Indeed. Taff was on his way to becoming my dream client. “Let me show you what I can offer.”
The next hour passed swiftly as I talked Taff through the various options we could provide. He listened intently, examining each piece of paper shrewdly. My respect for him rose with every probing question he asked. This was a man who had no issues getting exactly what he wanted and needed.
“I won’t lie, this all sounds great,” he said when we were finished. “Quite frankly, hiring an external firm is long overdue.”
“Your business has expanded at a rate of knots. It’s impressive, and I’m not surprised you haven’t had the time to look into outsourcing some of this work.”
Taff rubbed at his stubble. “It’s not so much about not having enough time, but more waiting for the right time.”
I smiled politely to hide my confusion. There was no such thing as a ‘right time’ when it came to saving money. You wanted to be doing that as early as possible. “I see.”
Taff chuckled. “You don’t, but that’s okay. In truth, I’ve been waiting on my partner to join me.”
Partner?I frantically scanned through the information in my brain. Nothing I’d learned had said anything about a partner. Still, this was a fuck-up. You never went to a client so underprepared that you didn’t know who was at the helm. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realise there was another party involved.”
“It’s fine.” Taff waved a hand and I almost sagged in relief. “There would’ve been no way for you to know. Penny’s been a silent partner up until now.”
“Penny?” My lips twitched. “That’s got to be another army name.”
“Yeah, he did get one of the more original ones.” Taff shook his head indulgently. “Guy’s a lucky fucker, always turning up at the best possible moment.”
I bit back my laugh at his swearing. Yeah, Taff was exactly my kind of client. I’d grown up sprinkling as much colour through my language as possible. Unfortunately, the professional setting I’d chosen meant having to curb it where possible.
Wouldn’t have been an issue if you’d gone down the starving artist route. You could swear up a storm and no one would give a fuck.
But I’d also be starving. I’d rather have a full fridge and bite my tongue occasionally.
“We were waiting for Penny to finish his service before introducing him as one of the faces of the company,” Taff continued. “But he’s finally back and keen to hit the ground running.”
My brain was whirring, figuring out how to adapt to the new situation. I noted the nickname, wondering if I should use that or not when greeting him. I’d wait and see how Taff introduced us. “Sounds great. I look forward to meeting him at some point.”
“You can do that right now.” He tapped at his phone. “He’ll be joining you for lunch.”
“Excellent,” I said, taking this information in my stride. “I can bore him with all my facts and figures too.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that with Penny.” He got to his feet. Whoever this man was, he had to be getting close. I followed suit, keen to make a good first impression. “We’re already sold on you and your firm. You just need to win him over on a personal level, as he’ll be your main point of contact.”
“Great.” My professional mask didn’t slip even asresentment started to bubble. If the company was sold on us, why did they need a personal connection?
To be fair, it was the same with most clients. It was about the service they’d be getting. When I’d chosen accounting, I’d had no idea how much wining, dining, and schmoozing would be involved. Truth be told, I fucking hated it. Don’t get me wrong, I was good at it, but you could be good at something and still hate doing it.
That was definitely the case for me.
So that part made sense. This Penny bloke being absent from the meeting though, that didn’t. If he was going to be my main point of contact, why hadn’t he attended?
A broad figure stepped into the room and my blood ran cold.
Dominic.
Guess that answered my question.
“Here he is,” Taff boomed, a smile lighting up his face as he strode over to Dominic. “Penny, glad you could join us.”
I could barely breathe past the white-hot rage that filled me. It pinned me in place as I stared at my ex. At the tailored suit that hugged every one of his muscles. The black tie knotted smartly at his collar.
What the fuck did I do now? Pretend I didn’t know exactly what he looked like under that suit? That I didn’t know how his mouth tasted? The face he made when he came?
My heart skipped a beat as I took in his current expression. The calm. The confidence. The utter certainty.